


Been Down This Road Before

by superlc529



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brothers, Family, Gen, S1 Dean Winchester, S1 Sam Winchester, S14 Castiel, S14 Dean Winchester, S14 Sam Winchester, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 14, This is my first SPN story and I hope it goes well, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21911398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superlc529/pseuds/superlc529
Summary: It was just a straightforward case. A simple salt 'n burn. Sam and Dean Winchester are on the search for their father... suddenly they find themselves in the future - 2019 to be exact. Nothing could ever be easy for them, could it?(Season 1 Dean and Sam end up in the future in Season 14)
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester
Comments: 88
Kudos: 323





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hi, everyone. Been writing fan fics for years. This is my first foray into Supernatural fan fiction. Anybody who has read my stories (Smallville stories to be exact) before knows I love my time travel... this one is also time travel. I can't help it. One scene wouldn't leave me alone in my head and I had to get it out… and thus this story was born. This story has already been completed and I will periodically post new chapters as my schedule/free time allows until it's complete on here (and on ff.net).
> 
> Hope you all enjoy. *fingers crossed*
> 
> Here we go...

“Mission accomplished, Sammy,” Dean cheerfully shut the driver side door on his beloved car as he settled into his seat.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed as he climbed into the passenger seat, “Nothing like a straightforward salt and burn… especially after last week.”

“I think we were due for an easy one after Roy Le Grange,” Dean started the engine. Sam nodded in agreement. The sun was just starting to set as they headed back on the road toward their motel. Dean turned on the radio as _Back in Time_ by _Huey Lewis and the News_ started to play.

“Hey, how do you think Layla is doing?” Sam turned to his brother once they were on the road for a few minutes.

“Don’t know,” Dean stared ahead, “Hope she’s doing okay… as okay as she can be.”

“Me too.”

Sam and Dean drove for a few more minutes with the radio as the only source of sound. Static broke the comfortable drive. Dean fiddled with the knob on the radio to find another station.

“What the hell, come on,” Dean turned his attention to the radio, taking his eyes off the road for a second when the static wouldn’t stop.

“Dean!” Sam yelled. Dean jerked his attention back to the road. They drove through a brilliant flash of a blue and white light as he slammed on the brakes. Tires screeched as the Impala came to an abrupt halt on the side of the road. Sam and Dean turned back to look through the back window, but the light was gone. They carefully stepped out of the car and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. Another car passed by them seemingly unaware of what just happened.

“What the hell was that?” Dean’s arm hung over the open car door as he looked over at his equally confounded brother over the car.

“No idea. That light just came out of nowhere,” Sam replied, a bit breathless.

“Did nobody else see that?” Dean gestured frantically to the cars just driving past them.

“Apparently not,” Sam sighed.

“That did just happen, right?”

Sam just nodded as he sat back in the car. They closed their doors at the same time and just stared ahead.

“We should probably just head back to the motel,” Sam suggested, “Maybe that was just headlights from a truck or something.”

“You really believe that?” Dean asked.

“Not really, but nothing seemed to happen so let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth,” Sam replied.

“Right,” Dean breathed. Sam was right – nobody else seemed affected. As he pulled back on to the highway, the radio turned back on sans static and started playing the weather.

_“It’s a cool sixty six degrees as the sun comes up over Sioux Falls,” the weatherman finished, “Traffic with Susan after these messages.”_

Dean briefed a glance at the radio before promptly turning it off.

“Did he just say the sun was coming up?” Sam asked.

“I wasn’t really paying attention,” Dean made a turn as they got closer to their destination.

“Dean, the sun was just setting,” Sam stated like it should’ve been obvious.

“What, you think that light we went through made us skip time?” Dean raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” Sam said, “We could’ve passed through some kind of wormhole or something.”

“In the middle of the road?” Dean wasn’t buying it, “In South Dakota?”

“We hunt ghosts and that sounds ridiculous to you?” Sam gave him his patented ‘Bitch Face.’

“Okay, fine, so we skipped our bedtime. Big deal,” Dean pulled into a parking spot at their motel, “As long as nothing else happened to anyone else, I say we’re okay.”

Sam sighed as he followed his big brother back to their room. Dean took out the key card and swiped it into the door. Nothing happened.

“Great,” Dean’s shoulders slumped.

“Last night was our last night in the room. The manager probably locked us out,” Sam said.

“Hopefully they left our guns alone,” Dean took out his lock pick to begin working on the door. After a moment, the lock clicked and they made their way inside. Dean headed straight to his bed but Sam stopped in his tracks.

It was a modest hotel room. Paint chipped in the corner where the ceiling met the wall. Two twin beds sat side by side. None of these details were what caused Sam Winchester to stop mid-stride. It was the fact that the entire room was a different color than it was the previous night. Not to mention, the beds looked completely new whereas last night a few springs were loose on his bed. Dean got on the ground and reached under his bed, completely unaware of his brother’s observations. He pulled out his duffel bag.

“Dean,” Sam tried to get his brother’s attention as he came up behind him.

“Nope, right where I left it,” Dean hefted the bag on to his bed.

“Dean,” Sam tried again.

“What?” Dean finally looked at his brother.

“Don’t you notice anything different about our room?” Sam gestured around the room with his eyes.

“It’s cleaner?” Dean tried.

“The walls are painted a different color, Dean,” Sam told him, “I don’t think we just skipped over a night… We might’ve skipped over a few _weeks_.”

“Good to know my hiding spot for our weapons works,” Dean smirked as he went to unzip his duffel.

“You’re not the least bit fazed by the fact that we seemed to have time traveled?” Sam folded his arms.

“Like you said, “we hunt ghosts” – this isn’t the most ridiculous thing that’s ever happened. Is it weird? Yeah. Is it awesome? Definitely,” Dean replied, “As long as we didn’t miss Dad trying to find _us_ or anything, I say that it’s just another day of the supernatural.”

“Right,” Sam conceded. Dean turned his attention back to look through his bag to make sure his prized weapons stayed hidden.

“Uhhhh, this isn’t mine,” Dean pulled out a long, triple-edged silver blade. Sam’s brows lifted along with Dean.

“I’ve never seen a weapon like that before,” Sam took it from Dean’s hand as he dug back into the bag.

“Neither is this,” Dean pulled out a stuffed animal of a cat making a frowny face.

“Drop it!” a voice came behind the boys with the added sound of a gun cocking. Dean immediately dropped the stuffed cat as it bounced off the bed and rolled on to his foot.

“Put your hands in the air,” the voice ordered, “Both of you.”

“This is a simple misunderstanding,” Dean put his hands in the air as Sam did the same. Both of their backs were to the third occupant.

“Slowly back up and get out. You picked the wrong room to rob.”

“We weren’t robbing anything,” Sam assured them, “We were just getting some of our stuff… This was our room. We left some stuff here and we were just getting it back.”

“Then why was your buddy rifling through my bag?” they returned.

“This is my bag,” Dean turned around with his hands still in the air, “But this isn’t my stuff.”

“Yeah, I think the cat toy was a given that it wasn’t your stuff,” Sam deadpanned as he also slowly turned around with his hands in the air. Now that they were facing the new person in the room, they could see it was young blonde woman about the same age as Sam.

“Look, this was our room a couple weeks ago,” Dean explained, figuring Sam was right about how much time they must’ve skipped thanks to that mysterious blue-white light, “We left a few important personal items in here and we were just getting it back. But you or someone else seemed to have emptied my duffel someplace else and you filled it with your things. If you would be so kind as to tell us where our things are, we will be on our way.”

The young girl lowered her gun and took a tentative step closer to the hunters.

“Dean?” she asked.

“Do we know each other?” Dean slowly lowered his arms. She turned her attention to Sam and squinted and cocked her head to the side a little.

“Sam?”

“You know us?” Sam looked between Dean and the blonde.

“What happened to you two?” she didn’t answer them, “You look like you shrunk in the dryer.”

“You wanna tell us how you know our names?” Dean was growing impatient.

“Guys… it’s me. Claire,” Claire finally introduced herself as she holstered her gun in the back of her jeans.

“Okay, Claire, how do you know us?” Dean gestured to himself and Sam.

“Did you two get whammied by a witch or something?” Claire looked back and forth at the two boys.

“Witch?” Sam was trying to put as many puzzle pieces together as possible, “You a hunter?”

“Yeahhhh,” Claire said slowly, “Did you guys get your minds wiped or something? Or did you just get de-aged?”

“De-aged?” Dean looked offended. He was always being told he looked too young to be an investigator when he was on a case, but not once did someone think he should’ve already been older.

“We didn’t run into a witch or anything,” Sam took control of the conversation, “Claire, how do you know us?”

“You guys are weirding me out,” Claire grew uneasy. She walked over closer to Dean to pick up her _Grumpy Cat_ stuffed animal and put him back in her bag.

“You and me both, sister,” Dean mumbled.

“Hey, do you want to tell me how you have my duffel bag?” Dean flipped the straps on the bag over after Claire put her toy and strange weapon back inside.

“You gave it to me,” Claire replied, “It was one of your old ones and you said it was sort of like my initiation hunting gift.”

“I think we might’ve jumped more than a few weeks, Dean,” Sam stated the obvious.

“What are you guys talking about?” Claire asked.

“Claire,” Dean started and gave his best Sam-puppy-dog-eye-expression he could muster, “How do you know us? When did we meet?”

“A long time ago,” Claire replied, “We sort of met through my dad… Are you guys from the past? Did you time travel?”

Claire’s eyes lit up at the prospect of time travel.

“Seems like it,” Sam agreed.

“We met through your _dad_ … Okay,” Dean tried to process that information. Considering she looked like she was around Sam’s age, she either had a _very_ young father, she was a lot younger than she looked, or they seemed to have jumped quite a bit into the future.

“What year are you guys from?” Claire asked as she sat on her bed. Sam and Dean took a seat across from her on the other bed. She seemed to take the whole time travel thing in stride. She really must be a hunter.

“2006,” Sam said.

Claire widened her eyes, “It’s 2019.”

“Oh boy,” Dean and Sam breathed in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Merry Christmas, everybody! And Happy Hanukkah to my fellow Jews... and happy holidays to whatever you may celebrate in this holiday season! Or Happy Birthday if it happens to be your b-day! :P
> 
> So grateful to see that this story seems to have attracted some attention and some likes/follows. I hope that everybody continues to read and enjoy. And now... here is chapter 2!

“We should call Jody. She’ll know what to do,” Claire said, “I was just finishing up an easy solo case and decided to crash at a motel before heading home. We’re not too far. She’ll know what to do.”

Claire got up to go and make the phone call she mentioned but Dean and Sam continued to sit on the bed in stunned silence.

“2019,” Dean seemed to (rightfully) be stuck on that bit, “We’ve been gone for over a decade.”

“I wonder if we ever found Dad,” Sam joked.

Dean scoffed and shook his head. This was a lot to take in. They were in a situation that was way over their pay-grade. He tried to shrug it off before when Sam thought they had jumped forward in time by maybe a few weeks. Hell, it would’ve taken a bit of time to get his head around the fact that they maybe had jumped a few months and possibly missed finding their dad or their dad coming back to them… but traveling forward over a decade? That was a bit much.

“I’m sure you’ll get back to your own time,” Claire must have finished her phone conversation. He didn’t hear any of it, lost in his own thoughts.

“You have to have got back or else this future wouldn’t exist. Time travel rules. We’ll figure out how to get you back,” Claire sounded confident and headed over to the window. She pushed back the curtains, “I see you’ve even got your car. You guys can follow me back home and we’ll make a game plan. Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” Sam agreed.

“I’ll get my stuff together and meet you guys outside,” Claire said. Sam just nodded and nudged his brother to get up with him as they headed outside.

Dean’s mind was going a mile-a-minute. Thirteen years. They had traveled _thirteen years_ into the future. So many things could’ve happened from their last case to the present. Sam joked about if they ever found their father, but Dean couldn’t help but wonder if they ever did. Was he still riding around in his Baby looking for their father? Was Sam still with him or did he abandon him to get back to law school? Were they still trying to track down that yellow-eyed son of a bitch that killed their mother? Would they ever find peace? Were they even still alive? Dean shook his head at that one. Claire would’ve acted a lot more scared at seeing them had they died.

Dean looked up. He had been so caught up in his thoughts, he didn’t realize they had moved let alone the fact that he and Sam had already got into the car, driven, and had pulled up to a modest looking home. A woman with short cropped hair stood by the driveway in front of the house with her hands on her hips, watching them as Claire got out of her own car to join her. Sam elbowed Dean as he got out of the driver’s side.

Sammy drove.

Right.

Time to face the future.

“Come on,” Sam said as Dean came around the car to meet him, “Let’s see what the future holds.”

“You two look like babies,” Jody commented as the Winchester brothers approached her.

“Thank you?” Sam didn’t know if it was a compliment or if she was implying they hadn’t aged as gracefully as he hoped.

“Come on, let’s head inside,” Jody raised her arm in a lead-the-way gesture, letting Sam and Dean head into the house first with herself and Claire following behind.

Dean and Sam took a seat on a well-worn couch. Claire plopped down in an overstuffed chair next to them, her legs hanging over the side as Jody came up to the boys with two beers in hand.

“Help yourself.”

“Thanks,” Sam and Dean echoed as they each took a beer from her. They both took a sip and followed Jody with their eyes as she sat down across from them in another chair.

“Not demons… Good to know,” Jody commented.

“Sorry, what?” Dean couldn’t have heard her correctly.

“Put some holy water in your beers after Claire told me you two were coming,” Jody shrugged, “Can’t be too careful.”

“Clever,” Sam smiled.

“Learned from the best,” Jody replied with a sad smile, thinking of Bobby Singer. The four hunters sat in silence for a moment before Jody broke it.

“You guys want to fill us in on how you got here?”

“A bluish-white light,” Dean swallowed more of his beer, “Sammy and me had just finished up a case not too far from here – a simple salt ‘n burn. We were on the main highway, our radio started to static, and then there was this bright light we drove through.”

“The light disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. When we stopped, the other cars driving by didn’t seem to notice anything,” Sam finished.

“Could it be another portal?” Claire looked to her surrogate mother.

“ _Another_ portal?” Sam looked to Claire.

“It could be,” Jody answered Claire, “But those were opening to other _worlds_ not times… but anything is possible. I’ve learned not to question anything.”

“I’m sorry. You guys have dealt with something like this before?” Dean’s voice went up in disbelief.

“The world’s gotten a lot more complicated over the years, boys,” Jody replied, “Speaking of which, I wonder if you two are still here.”

“Still here?” Sam wasn’t following.

“Our Sam and Dean,” Claire understood where Jody was going with that thought, “You think they switched?”

“One way to find out,” Jody dug into her back pocket for her phone.

~*~

“Pass the syrup,” Dean made grabby hands at his best friend with his mouth full of bacon.

“Dean, you shouldn’t talk with your mouth full,” Castiel chastised as he passed the syrup.

“How long have you known me?” Dean smirked, his mouth still full as he poured his syrup over his stack of pancakes.

“Eleven years, six months, ten days, five hours and forty seven minutes,” Castiel replied.

“Yeah,” Dean blinked at the detailed answer, “Well, you should know by now I talk with my mouth full.”

“You mean you’re not supposed to speak while you’re eating?” Jack asked as he put his full spoon back down into his cereal bowl.

“Jack, it’s not the best idea to model your etiquette after Dean,” Sam smirked as he got up to clear his plate of egg whites.

Team Free Will 2.0 were enjoying much-deserved time off to relax after defeating Apocalypse World Michael. Despite seemingly burning off the remainder of his soul to save everyone, Jack seemed normal: normal for Jack – super powers and all. Nobody wished to question their good fortune. It was rare when the four of them were up at the same time to enjoy a quiet, non-life-threatening day together. Mary Winchester was off on her own hunt with the promise to return home to the Bunker as soon as possible. Her boys had the pleasure of taking it easy for once…

Dean’s phone rang.

“Ayyy, it’s Jody,” Dean smiled as he answered, “Hey, Jody, what’s up?”

Dean put her on speaker and set the phone down.

~*~

“Answers that question,” Jody commented and put her own phone on speaker. She placed it on the coffee table in front of the younger Winchester brothers, “Got a bit of a case here for you boys.”

_“Yeah? What’s up?” Dean’s voice came out of the tiny device._

Young Dean’s eyes widened after hearing his own voice, albeit a bit deeper, come from another place.

_“Hi, Jody,” Sam sounded further away._

“Hey, Sam,” Jody replied. Young Sam looked to his brother. This had to be the strangest thing that had ever happened to them.

“You two feel any different?” Jody wasn’t really sure how to broach the subject.

_“As opposed to what?” Dean asked._

“Did Jack open up any portal?” Claire cut to the chase.

Dean looked to the nephilim, “Did you?”

“No,” Jack shook his head.

_“No,” Dean replied._

_“Why? What’s going on?” Castiel asked the Sheriff._

“Something you’ve got to see to believe,” Jody replied.

_“Very vague, thank you,” Dean deadpanned, “Are you in any danger?”_

Jody looked to the young versions of the boys she’s grown to love like her own sons, “No… it’s just we could use all the help we could get on this one. It’s a bit hard to explain.”

_“Do you want me and Jack to come up there first?” Cas offered._

“Like you’re going off without me,” Dean shot that idea down flat, giving the angel a death glare. He had enough of Cas going off on his own toward an unknown, possibly deadly situation. Plus, he wasn’t going to let the angel have all the fun.

_“Jody, just tell us what’s going on and we’ll help,” Sam said, “We can head on over as soon as possible.”_

“Well…” Jody started.

“They’ve got some visitors,” Young Dean made his presence known. Young Sam swatted his brother in the arm for breaking the unspoken decision that they’d remain quiet during this conversation.

“So much for being delicate,” Jody sighed.

_“Who’s that?” Jack asked._

Sam and Dean looked at each other.

“That couldn’t be,” Sam whispered as he looked across the table at his equally confused brother.

“That was me,” Dean said, “That sounded like me.”

“Is it a shape shifter?” Jack asked.

_“Jody, are you okay? Is that a shape shifter? Are you hurt?” Dean immediately jumped into protective mode._

“Not a shape shifter… they passed all my tests,” Jody replied, “Even the ones they didn’t even know about.”

Young Dean and Sam furrowed their eyebrows in confusion at the Sheriff. She only shrugged in response.

“We’ve got time travel on our hands,” Claire proclaimed with a smile.

“Damn… so much for a day off,” Dean sighed.

“We’re on our way, Jody,” Sam told her before he hung Dean’s phone up with a tap of his finger.

“That guy sounded like Dean,” Jack said as he watched Dean get up to put his empty plates in the sink.

“Do you remember time traveling to the future?” Cas asked.

“No, but who’s to say my mind wasn’t wiped,” Dean shook his head.

“Two Dean Winchesters in the world is definitely an all hands on deck situation,” Sam said, “Let’s head out.”

Jack and Cas got up from their seats to follow Sam and Dean out of the kitchen for what would no doubt be quite an interesting case.

“We should probably change out of our pajamas first though,” Jack commented as they all turned the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love the guys all hanging out in their PJs. :P Let me know what you thought of the next chapter! I'm not sure when I'll be posting chapter three... After today, I'm not sure when my next day off will be, but we'll see. :) I do hope it wasn't too confusing during Jody and the boys' phone conversation. I tried to make it clear with italics when the 'camera' was 'on' each of the characters. ;)
> 
> Until next time...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Technically I still have work today... but 'my own hours' (I'm Kennels today - work in an animal hospital that has boarding)... enough time to post another chapter. ;) I'm really glad that you guys seem to be enjoying the story. I was so nervous about posting a Supernatural story but this fandom is so supportive. I do hope I do double Dean and double Sam justice and that it's not too confusing.
> 
> I hope that everybody continues to read and enjoy. And now... here is chapter 3!

“That has to be the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Young Dean sat further back on the couch.

“Wow, you really are young aren’t you?” Claire scoffed. She shifted in her seat so she was now sitting in the chair in a more normal position, her feet on the ground.

“The boys are on their way,” Jody pocketed her phone, “God, that sounds so weird with you two sitting in front of me.”

“I have a feeling it’s something we’re going to have to get used to,” Sam said.

“True… Well, with the way Dean drives, I’m sure they’ll be here by lunch time,” Jody folded her arms, “Claire, why don’t you and me head out on to the highway and check out the area where the boys got transported here?”

“What about us?” Sam asked as Claire got up to head out with Jody.

“Make yourselves at home,” Jody said, “Help yourselves to something to eat. There are more beers in the fridge. Don’t go snooping around too much and we’ll be back soon.”

“Thank you,” Sam nodded.

“We’ll try not to disappear through any wormholes,” Claire couldn’t help but comment.

With that, Claire and Jody headed out the door. Jody gently pushed the young huntress out the door after her comment. Sam and Dean were left in the living room of Sheriff Jody Mills, thirteen years out of time.

~*~

“Who do you think those other two guys were?” Dean asked as he spread out on Jody’s couch, his feet crossed to settle on the coffee table with a bowl of chips at his side he started to munch on.

“Fellow hunters, I guess,” Sam came back over to sit down next to Dean after grabbing something to eat. His legs blocked his path. Sam gave Dean one of his patented bitch faces before Dean begrudgingly took his feet down and sat up a little straighter to let his brother sit next to him.

Dean laughed, “Can’t believe you and me are still hunting after all this time… and that we’ve seemed to team up with other hunters. Dad’s always so adamant on working alone.”

“Me neither,” Sam rested his forearms on his knees as he leaned forward, “I thought for sure I’d have been a lawyer by now.”

“What? You in a hurry to get back to law school?” Dean popped another chip into his mouth.

“Dean, this was always supposed to be a temporary situation,” Sam turned to him, “Either we’re still searching for Dad, in which case he _really_ doesn’t want to be found or something else came up that made me still hunt.”

“Is hunting with your big brother really that bad?” Dean tried his best not to look hurt.

“You know that’s not what I mean, Dean,” Sam leaned back into the couch, “I just thought I’d be done with hunting after we found Dad and I could get back to school and _my_ life.”

“Good to know what you really want, Sammy,” Dean remarked before getting up and practically stomped off to the fridge for another beer.

“Dean,” Sam called after him, “Man, don’t be like that. You know that’s not what I meant.”

The older Winchester leaned on the doorway leading into the living room as Sam continued to explain himself.

“Obviously we have no idea what’s happened in our lives between when we left to now. But if I have to be still hunting a decade down the road… I wouldn’t do it with anyone else.”

“Apology accepted, Bitch,” Dean sat down in the chair where Jody had been sitting.

“Jerk,” Sam returned with a smile.

“How far do you think our future selves are coming from?” Dean changed the subject.

“Don’t know,” Sam shrugged, “With the way you drive and how long Jody thought it’d take you to get here, at least a couple hours away.”

The two brothers sat in silence for a moment.

“Do you think we ever found Dad?” Dean played with the label on his beer.

“Hope so,” Sam said.

“Me too,” Dean replied before he got up out of the chair, swiped the remote off the table and plopped down next to Sam – enough of the chick-flick moment.

“Now scoot over. Let’s see what kind of quality programming we have to look forward to in the future.”

~*~

“How do you think past you got here?” Jack asked from the back seat. Castiel sat next to him behind Dean.

“No idea,” Dean shook his head, his eyes on the road.

“Claire asked if you had opened a portal,” Sam looked in the rearview mirror to look at Jack, “You didn’t, did you? Maybe without even realizing it?”

“No,” Jack shook his head.

“You don’t sound too sure,” Dean said, “We don’t know how much of your power really came back after you ganked Michael.”

“I’m sure, Dean,” Jack assured him, “After I created that door to Apocalypse World when I was born, well, since then portals require a lot of concentration. It’s not like teleporting or healing… or moving a pencil. I’d have to really concentrate to open another portal – especially one through time.”

Dean let out a breath, “Right… well, that’s one theory down.”

Before too long, they found themselves pulling up to Jody’s house behind an identical 1967 Chevy Impala.

“Wow,” Sam commented.

“You can say that again,” Dean shut the engine off. He pointed to the back of the car, “She’s even got our old plates. Past me must be from over a decade ago.”

“You think I came with you?” Sam asked.

“Depending on what year he came from, I’d say it’s possible. Plus, Jody did say ‘they’ – she probably meant another you too,” Dean realized. When nobody made a move to get out of the car, Cas offered to go in first to give the brothers a minute.

“That might be a good idea. Thanks, buddy. We’ll be in soon,” Dean turned as much as he could in his seat to accept the angel’s offer.

“I’ll go with him,” Jack opened his door after Castiel. Sam just nodded his approval before Jack jogged to catch up to his uncle who was already almost to the door.

“Just another day for the Winchesters,” Dean remarked as he watched Jack and Castiel go inside.

~*~

“Castiel,” Claire greeted him at the door, “And you must be Jack.”

“Great to finally meet you,” Jack waved with a smile.

“Can we come in?” Castiel asked. Claire just stepped aside as her response.

“Glad you could join us,” Jody turned to acknowledge her new guests. She looked behind Jack and Cas, silently asking with her eyes where their Sam and Dean were.

“We thought it might be best if we came in first,” Cas answered her silent question, “It might be a bit of a shock for Sam and Dean to see…”

He trailed off as he saw a twenty-six year old Dean and twenty-two year old Sam stand up to meet the new arrivals.

“Sam’s hair is short,” Jack blurted.

“Yeah,” Sam subconsciously tucked a stray hair behind his ear.

“You two must be the other guys we heard on the phone with us?” Dean stepped forward with his hand out to Castiel.

“Uhhh, yes. Hello, Dean,” Castiel shook the younger man’s hand.

“Did we really age that badly?” Sam asked.

“What?” Cas turned to him with a confused furrowed brow.

“Jody said we look like babies and Claire said we looked like we shrunk in the dryer when she first saw us. And both of your mouths were just hanging open,” Sam explained, “Did we really get that old?”

“Yes,” Claire couldn’t help but jump in at the same time Cas said, “No.”

“Catch up time,” Jody clapped her hands together, “Claire and I went out to the highway where the boys here said they drove through a blue-white light that transported them here… used all the tricks we know to search for anything out of the ordinary and nothing popped up.”

“Nothing?” Cas asked.

“Not even a blip on any meter,” Jody shook her head.

“And Sammy and I discovered that future TV is awesome… Netflix is a gift,” Dean gave a longing smile toward the television set.

“That’s the last time I leave my Netflix open with Dean Winchester in the house,” Claire mumbled and folded her arms.

“Anyway,” Jody got back on track, “As much as I’d love to see two Sams and Deans meet… I have to get to work and so does Claire.”

“You’ve got a job?” Cas asked.

“Unfortunately,” Claire rolled her eyes.

“We can’t hunt twenty-four seven,” Jody said. It sounded like it was a phrase she had to use on Claire many times. She clapped Jack on the shoulder and nodded to Cas, “Nice to finally officially meet you both face-to-face… we’ll all have to have a catch-up after we fix time.”

She eyed the younger Winchesters.

“Yeah, you too, Jody,” Jack smiled. Cas bowed his head at the departing Sheriff.

“Don’t burn the house down,” Jody grabbed her keys and headed out the door. Claire continued to stand in the living room before Jody called back, “Come on, Claire! You can’t be late again!”

“See you guys later,” Claire walked backwards out of the house with another roll of her eyes.

The four men stood in silence not knowing what to say to one another.

“Soooo,” Dean broke the awkwardness, “How did we get to hunting with you guys? Did we save you from a haunted tax machine?”

He tugged on Castiel’s trench coat with a chuckle.

“No, we sort of went through a shared hell together,” Castiel replied carefully.

“How long before we have to face our future selves?” Sam really wanted to know. He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the window toward the dual Impalas.

“They didn’t tell us how long we should wait before they come in,” Jack replied, “They just said they’d be in soon.”

“Right,” Dean stuck his hands in his pockets, “Well, this isn’t awkward at all.”

“I’m Jack, by the way,” Jack stuck his hand out for one of the boys to shake.

“Sam,” Sam shook it.

“Dean, but I think you knew that,” Dean shook Jack’s hand afterward.

“I’m Cas,” Cas introduced himself with a slight bow.

“Funny name for a dude,” Dean commented.

“It’s a shortened version of my name. It’s what you call me. I prefer it actually,” Cas replied, “My full name is Castiel.”

“Still a funny name for a dude,” Dean returned.

“Why don’t we sit down?” Cas suggested, ignoring Dean’s retort.

“Any idea on how we’re getting back to 2006?” Sam asked.

“That’s the year you’re from?” Jack sat down on the couch next to him. Dean took a seat on Jack’s other side and Cas sat in the chair closest to Dean.

“Yahtzee,” Dean replied, “And it’d be great if we could get back as soon as possible. We’re kinda looking for our Dad.”

“Whoa… That’s a long time ago.”

Everybody turned to the new voice in the room to see another Sam and Dean Winchester walk into the room. Young Sam’s mouth dropped as Young Dean’s eyes widened almost as wide. It really was one thing to just know that there was another you walking around that wasn’t a shape shifter or hallucination or something… it was a whole different feeling having that other you stand in front of you.

Young Dean’s eyes trailed over his future self. One thing he noticed immediately was the fact that he wasn’t wearing the necklace his younger brother gave him. What happened there? (Best not to dwell on that fact). He had no idea what Claire was talking about. He looked damn fine if he did say so himself – aged like a fine wine. If anything, he looked more muscular. His eyes turned to the giant that was his future brother. That other kid was right in commenting about Sam’s hair. His future brother definitely had let it grow out, but it seemed to fit him. Not that he’d ever admit that out loud. There was an air of confidence that exuded from the two men, demanding acknowledgment and respect when they entered the room.

“Jody and Claire passed us on our way in,” Sam said. He smiled at his younger self, “Hey… Sam.”

“Hi,” Young Sam rasped.

“So? What’s the sitch?” Dean stepped further into the room.

“Your younger selves seemed to have driven through some sort of time portal,” Cas replied, “But Jody and Claire went to investigate the space and didn’t find anything. Whatever was there isn’t there now.”

“Well, that would’ve been too easy,” Dean raised a leg to sit on the arm of the chair Castiel was sitting on.

“I brought some lore books on time travel or anything that might deal with it,” Sam waved a few books in the air, “Once we figured time travel was involved, I thought it’d be best if we could try to figure out how you guys got here and if it’d lead to anything that would help us get you guys back home.”

Young Dean scoffed, “Good to know you’re still a giant geek. Did you stop at the library before you came here?”

“No, he brought those books from home,” Jack said.

“Home?” Young Dean asked and looked to his future self.

“A lot of things have changed over the years,” Dean said, “If at all possible, it’d be best if we tried to avoid any and all spoilers, but I doubt we’ll have that kind of luck.”

“I’ll help you look through the lore,” Young Sam offered as he got up to join his future self.

“Thanks,” Sam handed him a book.

“Great… homework,” Young Dean caught another book his older younger brother tossed him. Man, time travel was weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope everybody seems to still be in-character... it was a bit difficult to write two different Deans and Sams voices but hopefully I captured them okay. Let me all know what you guys thought! Not sure if the next chapter will come before 2020 or not (depends on my schedule). :P :)
> 
> *hugs for the SPN Family*


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Happy New Year 2020! We're in a new decade! Can't believe it... I can't believe the response this story has received. I do hope that you guys continue to read and enjoy. This chapter is a bit shorter (only 1200 words or so) but I do plan on posting Chapter 5 some time on Sunday (my next day off).
> 
> Please enjoy and here is chapter 4!

“So, we’re really not gonna get any sneak peeks into the future?” Young Dean asked his future self. He was now sitting at the dining room table with his future self and the older of his future hunting buddies, each with a book in front of them. He just closed his book on another dead end.

Dean gave himself a deadpan glare. Young Dean shrank back a little. He hadn’t been on the other end of that look – other than in the mirror.

“Hey, I think I might’ve found something,” Young Sam called from his spot in the overstuffed chair.

“What do you got?” Dean turned, his arm hanging over the back of the chair.

“Get this… there was this old organization of, well, bookworms as Dean would call them called the Men of Letters and they thought they found some spell that would allow them to time travel,” Young Sam’s eyes didn’t leave the text on the page.

“So we might have the ingredients at home in the bunker,” Jack looked optimistic, perking up from his spot on the couch.

“So much for no spoilers,” Dean muttered under his breath. He looked to his Sam that said ‘You gave younger you one of the Men of Letters books?’ Sam returned with a ‘How was I supposed to know that was in there?’ look.

“You guys live in a bunker?” Young Sam asked.

“Long story,” Sam replied, “Does it say what ingredients are needed for the spell? Or if they had any success?”

“Actually the list of what I assume are ingredients looks like it’s written in another language,” Young Sam flipped the book around and held it out to Castiel who had stepped over to the younger man in interest of his find.

He took the book from him, “It’s in Enochian.”

“Enochian?” Young Dean asked.

“That’s the language of the angels,” Young Sam had an air of awe to his tone.

Young Dean scoffed, “Ain’t no such thing.”

“These ingredients actually look fairly simple to obtain,” Cas said after reading silently to himself for a moment, “The execution might be challenging though.”

“Challenging is our forte,” Dean replied.

“You can read Enochian?” Young Sam asked.

“Yes,” Castiel replied.

“Well, we can always ask Rowena for help on the execution,” Dean said, “That is… if she decides to help.”

“Sounds to me like our best chance at sending your younger selves back home is if we all head back to the bunker,” Cas placed his finger in the now closed book to hold the place before he folded it to his chest.

“Awesome,” Young Dean grinned, “Road trip with our future selves. This is gonna be fun.”

Sam and Dean exchanged looks with one another while Young Sam just shook his head at his older brother’s commentary.

~*~

“You deal with time travel before?” Young Dean asked from the backseat. He hadn’t been in the backseat of his car while someone else was driving in a very long time. Well, technically, he _was_ driving. Castiel sat shotgun while his brother sat next to him, looking through more of the books future Sam had brought.

“A few times,” Dean replied.

“That’s very informative, thank you,” Young Dean quipped.

“Now you know how the rest of us feel when you respond like that,” Young Sam’s eyes didn’t leave the page. Castiel couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Both Deans gave him an identical glare. Cas immediately wiped the smile off his face. Dean’s eyes went to the rearview mirror.

“Sam and Jack still behind us?” Castiel asked. When they decided to all head back to the bunker, they decided it be best to take both cars. If they succeeded in their mission, there was no way they were leaving their car behind. After texting Jody their plan, so she wouldn’t panic at their absence, the six men headed out.

“Yup,” Dean replied.

“I almost forgot how smoothly Baby drove when she was younger,” Dean ran his hands over the steering wheel with adoration. He had lost count of how many times he's had to rebuild her over the years. Before his younger self could say anything, Dean was quick to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, she still drives plenty smooth.”

“Hey, uh, Castiel? Can I ask you a question?” Young Sam asked like he wasn’t quite sure he got the name right. Castiel turned around as much as he could to acknowledge him.

“Of course,” Cas replied.

“How did you learn to read Enochian?” Young Sam closed the book he was reading on a bookmark they borrowed from Jody’s house.

Before Cas could reply, Young Dean butted in, “Yes, how did you learn to read an entirely made up language? Do you know Klingon too?”

“All languages are made up, Dean,” Castiel returned, “And I did learn a little Klingon a few years back from Charlie.”

Young Dean just rolled his eyes.

“You don’t believe in angels?” Young Sam turned to his brother. His eyes darted back and forth between both Deans.

“No, I don’t,” Young Dean folded his arms and turned his head to look out the window at the passing scenery. Clearly, he was done with the conversation.

Young Sam looked to the older brother that was driving, “Do you?”

“I believe in one angel,” Dean smiled at said angel in the passenger seat.

“How can you believe in something you’ve never seen?” Young Dean apparently deemed the conversation interesting enough to re-enter after hearing his future self’s response.

“Angels are real, man,” Dean replied, “They’re major dicks… but they’re real.”

Cas turned his head, a bit offended at the ‘dicks’ comment, Dean was quick to amend his statement, “ _Most_ of them are dicks.”

“Do you think it’d be possible to get an angel’s help in getting us back home?” Young Sam asked hopefully.

“Oh, yes, let us pray and see if these apparent dick angels have nothing better to do with their time than help some random hunters with their time travel problem,” Young Dean sarcastically clasped his hands together and shut his eyes in mock prayer.

“You’ve already got one,” Cas said.

“You’re an angel?” Young Sam’s voice went up with a mix of hope and wonder.

“Bullshit,” Young Dean still wasn’t buying it. Surely they were pulling their legs. They had to be hazing them. He knew he’d do that in their situation. He _was_ in their situation.

“You have a lot to learn and to go through, Dean,” Cas angled himself so he was at least partially facing the younger hunter.

“Can I see your harp?” Young Dean cracked.

“I don’t have a harp,” Cas turned back around. What was it with Dean Winchester and his insistence that he had a harp?

“Heads up, guys,” Dean put the car in park, “We’re here.”

Young Sam and Dean leaned to the side to look out their respective windows to see a large brown and gray building. It didn’t seem all that spectacular. Dean and Castiel got out of the car and headed over to some stairs leading downward to what seemed like a regular door. They were joined by Sam and Jack who just got out of their Impala. After a moment, they got out of the car to head in to their new home base and future home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tried to capture S1 Dean's smartass-ery when presented with something he didn't quite believe. Hopefully it came across in-character. Keeping everybody in-character and yet believable is one of my main concerns when I write. If you didn't see the first author's note before the chapter, I'll repeat down here that I'm planning on posting Chapter 5 some time on Sunday as it's my next day off... Chapter 5 does have a little bit of a cliffhanger, but it is a *little* bit longer than this one. I do hope you guys are still reading and enjoying! Sound off in the comments/reviews to let me know! I do appreciate them all.
> 
> *more hugs for the SPN Family*


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So it looks like the general consensus is that I seem to have the boys' voices in-character. So relieved about that. Also relieved that it's not too confusing which Dean or Sam is speaking, etc. There's a bit of a cliffie at the end of this chapter. :P Not sure when I'll get a chance to post chapter 6 as my next day off isn't until Friday after today, but I can try my best to possibly post the next chapter before then (as long as you guys are good). LOL. :P
> 
> Just kidding... Anyway, as promised, it's Sunday 1/5/20 so here is chapter 5!

“Oh my God,” Young Sam breathed as they took in the room below them. It was huge. Their future selves were already heading down a staircase to the main level. Castiel followed with Jack behind.

“All those books,” Young Dean wrapped his arm over his younger brother’s shoulders, “You must be in Heaven.”

“You guys actually _live_ here?” Young Sam asked in amazement, his hand trailing over the railing on the balcony level before heading down the stairs following Young Dean.

“When we’re not out on the road, yeah,” Sam replied.

“How’d you swing getting this place?” Young Dean asked and jerked his thumb at Cas, “Angel boy whip up a miracle?”

“Long story,” Dean said, “And ironically, it had to do with time travel. Let’s just see if we can’t gather up these ingredients and get you guys back home already.”

Young Sam handed Castiel the book that contained the spell. He translated the average ingredients that they had in the stock room – wormwood, sage, wolf’s bane, etc. Jack volunteered to gather them and Sam went with him to help.

“There’s also need for the blood of an angel,” Cas said, “I’ll provide that when the time comes…”

“What else?” Dean prompted.

“The Men of Letters seemed to only want their members to be able to carry out the spell… One of the reasons they used Enochian to write out the ingredients. Though there is no record it had even worked or was attempted.”

“Still right now it’s our only shot,” Dean said.

“It also calls for some uh, maternal blood,” Cas shut the book.

“Maternal?” Young Sam asked.

“Blood of a mother of legacies,” Cas said.

“Legacies?” Young Dean raised an eyebrow.

“Members of the Men of Letters,” Dean returned.

“Right, so we need to track down some random dude and get some blood from their mom?” Young Dean couldn’t keep the skepticism out of his voice, “That should go over real well.”

“We’ll get it, don’t worry,” Dean exchanged glances with Cas. Mary would definitely provide them with that ingredient. The trick was going to be to get it from her and keep her secret from the young hunters. He had tried to call his mom to warn her about their latest time travel case, but her phone kept going to voicemail. Hopefully it just meant she was finishing up her hunt and would answer soon. He didn’t even want to think about the alternative.

“Anyway, that seems to be the last of the ‘regular’ ingredients,” Cas said. The air quotes were evident by the intonation of his voice, “Then the rest looks like it will require some legwork.”

“What do we need?” Young Sam asked as he took a seat at one of the tables in the library. They had migrated that way as they were talking. Young Dean took a seat next to his brother and Cas and Dean took a seat across from them.

“A few rare antiquities,” Cas said, “Items that should be fairly easy to obtain.”

“Are all angels this vague?” Young Dean couldn’t help but take a jibe. His elbows rested on the table, leaning toward Castiel. He still really wasn’t convinced he was an angel. After all, if angels existed, then where were they when he needed them most?

“I think the point Cas is trying to make,” Dean was quick to defend his best friend, “Is that we will go out and get all the ingredients while you two stay put. We have no idea the kinds of changes that are happening to the timeline with you two here in the present. We need to work quickly. Plus, the less time you’re in the future, the better. The last thing we need is a paradox.”

“Got everything,” Jack re-entered the library with his arms full. Sam trailed behind him and placed his load on the table next to the nephilim.

“Maybe this is a _bootstrap_ paradox,” Young Sam said as his future self and Jack joined them. His future self stood across from him next to Castiel. Jack stood next to him at the head of the table.

“What’s a bootstrap paradox?” Both Deans asked at the same time.

“It’s a causal loop,” Young Sam replied before Sam could, but his counterpart continued the explanation anyway.

“Like in Doctor Who. A future incarnation of the Doctor only knew what to do in a certain situation because he saw or remembered something a past version of himself did.”

“Man, I hate time travel. It always gives me a headache,” Dean ran an exasperated hand over his face.

“So in other words, if Sammy and me’s little trip here is a bootstrap paradox, it means that we were always meant to time travel to the future?”

“Basically,” Sam nodded at his younger older brother.

“But you guys don’t remember doing this, right?” Young Sam asked.

“No.”

“Our lives are weird,” Young Dean slumped in his chair and rubbed his temples with his first two fingers. All this time travel talk was starting to give him a headache.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Dean sighed.

“And it doesn’t look like there are any signs of a temporal paradox like we had a little while ago,” Sam continued and looked to his Dean.

“Do I even want to know?” Young Dean looked to his future self.

Dean shook his head and changed the subject as he looked up at his Sam, “Cas has all the ingredients that we need to get memorized. I say we go get the ones we can now and then high-tail it back here.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sam agreed. Dean and Cas got up to head out. As soon as Jack made to follow them, Dean put his hand up.

“Actually, you stay here, kid.”

“You don’t want me to go with you guys?” Jack asked.

“Somebody needs to start prepping the spell and mix the ingredients we have already.”

“Can’t the other you two do that? I want to help you.”

“Jack, somebody really should stay behind and get things ready,” Sam put a hand on his shoulder, “We’ll be back before you know it.”

“And you will be helping us,” Dean smirked and eyed their younger selves. It was still weird. Jack had to fight the glare at Dean’s comment.

~*~

“You get benched a lot?” Young Dean got up to stand next to Jack by the other table that held all the ingredients they gathered from the bunker’s store room.

“It seems to happen more and more lately,” Jack nodded.

“I’m sure they’re just looking out for you,” Young Sam took the bowl from Jack. He started to slice up an item for the spell.

“It’s annoying,” Jack grumbled.

“Hey, you get to hang with the cool kids,” Young Dean bumped his shoulder.

He shook his head in disbelief as he dropped a pinch of the wolf’s bane into the bowl, “I never thought I’d give orders like that. For a second, I thought Dad was here.”

“What’s your father like?” Jack asked.

“You haven’t met him?” Young Sam asked. Jack just shook his head.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“As far as I know, yes,” Jack wanted to be honest.

“Figured as much,” Young Dean sighed, “A hunter’s lifespan ain’t too long. Frankly, I’m shocked that I’m still kicking. Don’t tell me how Dad died… if you know, that is. That’s one thing I’m starting to agree with future me about. I don’t think I want to know some future stuff.”

“So,” Young Sam thought it wise to change the subject, “How’d we meet?”

“How’d we meet?” Jack repeated.

“Yeah, how did we start hunting together?” Young Dean was curious too, “The… angel. God, I can’t believe I just said that. Still convinced they’re pulling my leg. Castiel said that we went through a hell together. Really hope he didn’t mean that literally, but I don’t want to fixate on that… How’d you get to hunting with us? Everybody becomes a hunter for some reason.”

“I don’t really know how to describe our first meeting,” Jack said, “It didn’t really go too well. You didn’t like me.”

“Well, I like you,” Young Dean smiled.

“Me too,” Young Sam grinned.

“Never thought I’d see the day that I’d be hunting with anybody but family though,” Young Dean shook his head.

“We are family,” Jack stated. Young Dean seemed taken aback at that proclamation.

“Hey, there’s only so much prep we can do here,” Young Sam broke Dean’s stunned silence. Seriously, he was gaping like a fish.

“Why don’t you give us a tour? We don’t know how long we’ll have to stay. It’d be best if we didn’t get lost. Something tells me this place is pretty big.”

“It is,” Jack said, “Come on then. I’ll give you guys a tour. We can start with the kitchen.”

~*~

After making their way around the bunker, Young Dean was especially taken with the garage and all the vintage cars, Jack and the younger Winchester brothers found their way back to the kitchen to get something to eat. Jack took a seat at the table with Young Sam sat across from him. Young Dean came over to sit next to his brother with a cup of coffee.

“I could get used to this,” Young Dean took a sip from his red and white mug.

“It is very nice,” Jack agreed.

“Never thought I’d have a home,” Young Sam said.

“Where is here anyway?” Young Dean asked. Jack cocked his head, not understanding the question.

“What state are we in? I didn’t see the signs on the way here.”

“Oh, we’re in Lebanon, Kansas,” Jack answered.

“Kansas?” Young Dean put his mug down. He wasn’t expecting that, “Well, home sweet, home.”

“You grew up in Lawrence, right?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Young Sam said, “And then we were on the road with Dad on hunting trips.”

“You said that in your time you were looking for your father?” Jack asked.

“He went missing,” Young Dean lowered his mug after taking another sip of coffee, “He went after the yellow-eyed son of a bitch that killed our mom.”

“I’ve heard about that,” Jack nodded.

“Jack?” Young Sam started tentatively, “Do we get him? I mean, I know that it’s probably better we not find out _too_ much about our future. And it looks like we won’t remember any of this, but that’s something we’ve gotta know. Do we kill the monster that killed our mom?”

Young Dean looked to Jack as well, wary of his answer. Before Jack could answer, a door shut down the hallway and all three boys raised their heads at the sudden sound.

“Future us back already?” Young Sam extended his neck out to look beyond Jack toward the door.

“I don’t think so,” Jack shook his head and got up to investigate.

“Dean? Sam?” A too familiar and impossible voice called out. Both young brothers looked to each other. Surely they weren’t hearing who they thought.

“A werewolf ate my phone,” the voice was getting closer, “Are you guys home? Jack? Castiel?”

“Mary,” Jack made a move toward the kitchen entrance, calling out for her. He almost ran into her as she entered the kitchen.

“Jack, oh, you’re here,” Mary grabbed Jack’s shoulders to settle herself after nearly colliding with the young man, “Sorry if you boys have been trying to call me. A werewolf essentially ate my phone. There’s a first time for…”

She trailed off as her gaze landed on her sons looking far younger than she has come to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *inserts evil laugh here*
> 
> Come on, y'all knew that Mary was gonna pop up, right? LOL. I hope those of you that wanted S1 Dean & Sam to find out about Jack being the Devil's son and technically their adopted son weren't disappointed. But that aspect didn't really fell relevant to the story. Plus, the young Winchesters are getting a ton of revelations anyway - especially with who just walked through the door. ;) Sound off in the comments/reviews to let me know what you all think! I do appreciate them all. Hopefully my first attempt at a SPN story is satisfactory. :)
> 
> PS: Couldn't help put a Doctor Who reference in there. I am a Whovian after all. :P


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, I still have work today, but I thought since you all were so nice, I'd be nice in return and post the next chapter today. I know you all wanna see Mary's interaction with the young Winchester bros. Hopefully you're not disappointed. There is a 'sort of' cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. More than likely, I'll post the following chapter when I'm off on Friday, but we'll see. ;) Here is chapter 6!

Mary Winchester was alive.

Mary Winchester was standing right in front of him. He hadn’t truly laid eyes on her since he was four years old and she had put him to bed. Her hair was shorter than he remembered. She wore a hunter’s green jacket covering blue flannel, a white shirt, and jeans with boots that looked very similar to the ones on his own feet. She smiled at him just like he remembered. This couldn’t be real. How could she be here in the future?

“Mom?” Young Dean croaked.

Before Mary could respond, Jack stepped in to explain, “Mary, they’re from the past. They drove through some sort of time portal and we’re trying to get them back to the right time period. Castiel and our Sam and Dean went to go get some ingredients for a time travel spell we found.”

Mary nodded.

“H-How are you here?” Young Dean’s eyes never left his mother as she came further into the room.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Mary replied. She stepped up to Young Sam and wiped the tear that had fallen down his cheek. He hadn’t even realized he was crying. All he had ever had were pictures of his mother. And here she was standing right in front of him.

Breathing.

Alive.

“Are you real?” Young Sam whispered.

“Very real,” Mary smiled and gently led both of her younger sons to the table where Dean’s beer and sandwiches laid forgotten.

“I should give you guys some privacy.”

Young Dean and Sam whipped their heads to Jack’s sudden voice. They had practically forgotten he was there. Mary gave him an appreciative nod as he headed out of the room.

“I-I don’t understand,” Young Dean’s voice broke, “Did we bring you back to life? What did we do? Are you even you? How long have you been back?”

“I was brought back,” Mary had her hands folded in front of her at the table. She sat across from her boys, “But you didn’t do it. I’m all me and I’ve been back for a little while.”

She reached across the table to clasp both of her sons’ hands to reassure them that she was real and very much herself – not a ghost, hallucination, or projection. Just Mary Winchester.

“Are you boys okay?” Mary’s voice was gentle.

“I’ve never been better in my life,” Young Dean half-laughed and half-cried. His eyes were watery and yet he had the biggest smile on his face.

“How did we get you back?” Young Sam asked.

“Like I said, it’s a long story,” Mary replied, “But basically you guys helped God’s sister and…”

She made a ‘here-I-am’ gesture.

“ _God’s_ sister,” Young Sam couldn’t have heard her right. That was way beyond their pay-grade.

“I know,” Mary agreed, “It’s a lot.”

“How are you dealing with this stuff?” Young Dean asked. He seemed to have composed himself a little better.

“What? God’s sister?” Mary raised a brow.

“No, I mean with the supernatural stuff,” Young Dean elaborated, “You were dead and now you’re alive… how are you with that?”

“It was a bit of an adjustment,” Mary said, “But I have you boys. And I have Castiel and Jack. I have my family and I have my work.”

“What do you do?” Young Sam asked. His eyes were rapt with attention all on his mother. Before she could respond though, one detail jumped back in his brain.

“Wait… you said that a werewolf ate your phone. Are you hunting?”

Mary simply nodded.

“We made you hunt?” Young Dean couldn’t believe it. How could they do that to their mother?

“No, no,” Mary was quick to reassure, “No, I _was_ a hunter… before. I grew up in the life.”

Young Sam’s eyebrows disappeared behind his bangs.

“ _You_ were a _hunter_?”

“Was raised in the life and gave it up for family,” Mary replied, “I wanted to be there for my boys. For you two.”

“Do you know what killed you?” Young Dean asked.

“Yellow-eyed demon,” Mary nodded.

“I think that’s enough for right now,” another voice entered the conversation. All three occupants of the kitchen turned to see Dean with his arms folded.

“Jack said you were in here,” Dean stepped further into the kitchen.

“When’d you get back?” Young Sam asked. How long had they been talking with their mom?

“We came back a few minutes ago,” Dean replied, “Jack told us that Mom was in the kitchen with you guys. Thought I’d come in and see how everybody was doing.”

“So our mother’s alive and you didn’t think that was something worth mentioning?” Young Dean’s voice was full of accusation.

“Like I said, I thought it best if we didn’t reveal too many future events,” Dean wasn’t fazed by his younger reflection’s gaze or tone.

“We’re getting the rest of the ingredients together if you guys want to join us in the library. Mom, we need you for some of it.”

Dean nodded his head toward the exit. Mary rubbed and patted both Young Sam and Dean’s hands before standing up. She lovingly brushed her Dean’s shoulder as she passed him to join the rest of her family in the library.

“Mom’s alive,” Young Sam breathed, “I can’t believe it.”

Young Dean continued to glare at his older self with his arms folded.

“You really didn’t think it was worth mentioning to us that our mother was alive? What, you didn’t think that we’d want to see her?”

“Oh, I knew that you’d want to see her,” Dean returned, “I thought that the whole time traveling to the future thing was a lot on your plate and didn’t think it’d be the best thing in the world to complicate your trip here further; especially since you weren’t going to be here long. Like I said before, it’d be best to try to avoid spoilers…”

“Screw spoilers!” Young Dean stood up with a pound of his fists against the table.

“We understand that we can’t know _everything_ ,” He slowly made his way closer to his future self, “But Mom being _alive_ …”

He took a breath.

“Don’t you think that after all the shit that we’ve gone through trying to find and kill the monster that killed her – we’d like to see that our efforts sprouted something good?” Young Dean was now nose-to-nose with his future self.

“Dean,” Young Sam came over to lightly push his brother’s chest to back him down from his future self’s face, “Calm down.”

“What? You don’t think the fact we have our Mom back in our lives would be something worth knowing? Even for a little bit? It’s a bit obvious that we’re gonna forget this whole adventure anyway… But why not have a little happiness for two seconds, right?”

Before either Dean or Young Sam could respond, Young Dean left the kitchen in a huff, but not before slamming his shoulder into his future self’s chest as he exited. Dean closed his eyes at the impact, but seemed otherwise unaffected. Young Sam lingered behind to offer an apologetic look before following his Dean out the door and toward the library. Dean let out a long sigh before he left the kitchen to join everyone else.

~*~

“Everything okay?” Castiel noticed both Deans and Young Sam join them. Both Dean Winchesters were radiating hostility.

“Just peachy,” Dean replied before coming to stand next to the angel. His younger counterpart was standing across the room next to Young Sam. Both younger Winchesters were standing next to Mary. Jack stood on her other side and Sam was on Castiel’s other side.

“I just got off the phone with Rowena,” Sam gestured with his phone before putting it back in his pocket, “I told her about this spell without giving away too many details about our past selves. She seems to think that there’s a good shot it will work. The execution seemed a bit complicated at first, but I think we can manage it.”

Dean nodded.

“Who’s Rowena?” Young Dean asked.

“She’s a witch,” Jack replied.

“You _work with_ a witch?” Young Dean couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What the hell happened to them that would make them work with supernatural beings instead of just ganking them?

“Sometimes,” Sam shrugged, “It’s complicated.”

“Everything’s complicated in the future, isn’t it?” Young Dean muttered and looked down. Mary simply placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked back up and gave her a small smile. He could deal with complicated if it meant that he’d have his mother back in his life alive and well.

“What do you need us to do?” Young Sam asked.

Sam took point and started directing Young Sam and Dean into position for the spell. Jack and Mary walked off to the side, a safe distance away, but stayed put so they could watch and help if needed. Sam beckoned his Dean over to him and gave him instructions on his role for the spell. Cas started chanting off the incantation for the spell then Sam and Dean joined in. The bowl full of ingredients sat in the middle of the table. A flash of light blasted from the bowl before dying down. Everyone in the room took a breath and looked around. Did the spell work?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? A sort of cliffhanger... ;) I hope you guys liked what I did with Mary and the boys. It was a really interesting visual having Young Dean and S14 Dean 'fight' but I thought it would be something he/both of them would do. :) Sound off in the reviews/comments to let me know what you all think! I am relieved that you guys seem to be enjoying this story. The whole reason I wrote it was because I had been searching for a story just like this and couldn't find one so I thought...
> 
> Hell, I'll write it. :P :) Thanks, guys!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Day off... new update. :) Hopefully those of you that read chapter 6 here enjoyed it even though there wasn't a single review for it (on AO3)... *looks nervous*
> 
> I hope you guys liked how I handled Mary interact with the younger Winchesters. :)
> 
> Anyway... I thought it'd be good to post chapter 7 on my day off. There really isn't a cliffhanger at the end of this one. But I do hope you all continue to read and enjoy and please tell me what you all think! I appreciate them all and it helps to know that others like what I've written. :) Now on with the show...

“Still here,” Young Dean stated the obvious. He and Young Sam were still standing in the same spot.

“Maybe we didn’t execute it right,” Sam looked back down at the book in his hands.

“Or maybe the spell is just a bust,” Dean said, “Cas said that there was no record that it was ever successful.”

“We’re stuck here?” Young Sam asked.

“We’ll figure out a way to get you boys back to your time,” Mary smiled. Young Sam returned the smile with a shy one of his own. To be honest, with Mary Winchester alive and well in the present, he wasn’t too eager to get back to the past and he was sure his brother felt the same.

“Do you think it didn’t work because we weren’t in our car?” Young Dean asked.

“What would that have to do with anything?” Young Sam returned.

“I didn’t think it’d be great if we left her here in the future,” Young Dean said, “Plus, we time traveled while driving… maybe we needed to recreate events.”

“If that’s the case,” Castiel started, “Then maybe that idea should have been brought up before we did the spell… Like I said, the Men of Letters seemed to have designed the spell as a one-and-done deal – could be that’s why they never attempted to execute it.”

“It was still worth a shot,” Dean said, “Hell, it was our only shot.”

“Eh, I’m sure we’ll come up with something else,” Young Dean said, “But to be honest, I’m not too mad about it. The future looks a lot brighter than our present.”

He looked to Mary. He still couldn’t get over the fact that she was back from the dead. If John had been there with them, he’d say that it’d be a perfect future with their family all together again. It was something he had wanted since he was little.

“Recreating events isn’t a bad idea though,” Dean said, “Maybe we should take another look at the area where you were transported.”

“Jody and Claire already did,” Cas replied, “They didn’t find anything.”

“Can’t hurt to look again,” Dean shrugged, “Plus, maybe there’s something there that humans can’t pick up on, but you can.”

“Didn’t think about that.”

“Fantastic,” Young Dean said, “You guys go ahead and do that and we’ll stay here with Mom.”

“Nice try,” Sam shook his head, “If they find anything, it’d be better if you were there too.”

“I need to head out again anyway,” Mary said, “I have to get another phone… Plus, I had another job lined up. I’ll see you boys later.”

Mary gave both her young sons a hug before heading back up the staircase. Young Dean and Sam looked like they didn’t want to let her go after coming out of the hug, but reluctantly watched her leave with their eyes.

“Where’s Jack?” Cas looked around. The young nephilim wasn’t in the room.

“Jack?!” Dean called out and turned around to start running through the bunker before said half-angel came back into the room.

“Where were you?” Dean scolded.

“I went to the garage after younger you mentioned the Impala,” Jack said, “It’s not there… only ours is there.”

“The spell worked on the _car_?” Young Sam couldn’t believe it.

Jack just shrugged, “Looks like it.”

Dean started to laugh at the insanity of the situation. After all of that, the spell worked but only on the Impala.

“I’m sorry,” Dean finished laughing, “I’m sorry… but it’s a little funny.”

“So we would’ve been back in our own time if we had been in our car?” Young Sam couldn’t believe it.

“Or the car would’ve gone back and you would’ve dropped to the floor,” Jack said, “Spells aren’t an exact science. We don’t know anything for sure.”

“We really need to figure out what caused you two to time travel in the first place,” Castiel sighed.

“Road Trip Take Two,” Young Dean quipped.

~*~

“Hey, slow down, we’re coming up on the spot,” Young Sam sat up a little straighter, leaning forward from the back seat. The journey back to the “scene of the crime” was one spent mostly in awkward silence when it wasn’t full of Classic Rock with both Deans alternating between silently mouthing along to the lyrics and singing out loud with Castiel and Young Sam subtly nodding along to the music.

Once everybody agreed upon the necessity to go back and investigate the space where Young Sam and Dean had been transported through time, Sam and Jack decided to continue to research at the bunker with Castiel and Dean heading ‘Road Trip Take Two’ as Young Dean had so eloquently put.

“Here?” Dean asked as he pulled to a stop off the side of the road.

“Yeah,” Young Sam sat further back as Dean killed the engine. All four men got out of the car.

“See anything?” Dean turned to the angel. Castiel closed his eyes and put his hand up, searching.

Young Dean stood off to the side of the road with his arms folded and let out a scoff at the display. His arms dropped when he noticed a light coming from Castiel’s hand.

“There has been a disturbance here, all right,” Cas still had his eyes closed, “We already knew it was temporal… but whatever was here, it’s gone now.”

He opened his eyes.

“Well we already knew there was a temporal disturbance, Cas,” Dean jerked his head over at his other self and younger brother.

“You asked if I saw anything, Dean,” Cas returned, “I’m just replying.”

“So, you didn’t pick up on anything more than Jody and Claire?” Young Sam asked.

“They weren’t able to pick up on anything,” Cas replied, “I could only tell that a disturbance did occur here… but that obviously wasn’t new information.”

“So we’re back at square one,” Dean rubbed another exasperated hand over his face.

“There has to be something we’re missing,” Cas said, “Perhaps we should retrace your steps even further back.”

He closed the distance between himself and young Dean, “What were you doing before you were driving on this road?”

“We just finished up a case,” Young Dean shrugged, “A simple salt ‘n burn.”

“What are you thinking, Cas?” Dean came up behind the angel.

“What if your case wasn’t as simple as you thought?” Castiel looked between Young Dean and Young Sam.

“You think that our case before we time traveled has something to do with this?” Young Sam asked.

“Can’t hurt to look,” Dean agreed with Castiel, “We’re kind of running out of viable options here.”

“What good would that do?” Young Dean shook his head, “That case was over a decade ago at this point.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years,” Dean turned to his younger self, “It’s to never underestimate anything.”

“So this salt ‘n burn… was it bones or personal possession?”

“Bones,” Young Sam replied.

“Good,” Dean nodded and got out his car keys, “Lead the way to the cemetery.”

~*~

“Here it is,” Young Sam came to a stop at a headstone.

“Still feels weird being in a cemetery in broad daylight,” Dean shuddered as he came up behind his younger brother. His younger self came up on his other side and Castiel on Young Dean’s other side.

“Over a decade later,” Young Dean quipped, “Good to know that they put the dirt back.”

“Funny, Dean,” Young Sam side-glared at his brother.

“All right, so what do we know about… Colette Covens?” Dean asked as he read off the headstone.

“She was haunting the locals, mostly slashing local men’s chests with her initials,” Young Dean replied.

“Right and you torched her bones,” Dean nodded along, “Done and done… nothing suspicious there.”

“Castiel?” Young Sam questioned the angel who was now on his hands and knees squinting at something small engraved on the headstone.

“What do you got, Cas?” Dean asked.

“I’ve seen this symbol before,” Cas fingered the engraving.

“Where?” Both Deans asked.

“In one of Rowena’s books,” Castiel replied, “I think it’s the symbol for the Grand Coven.”

“You mean she was a witch?” Dean asked.

“Looks like it,” Cas stood back up, brushing off stray blades of grass from his pants.

“A witch and a ghost… That’s quite a mash up,” Young Dean remarked.

“I’ve seen cooler,” Dean returned.

“If you’re done showing up your younger self,” Cas interrupted, “I’d suggest we seek Rowena’s counsel on this.”

“I’ll give her a call,” Dean got out his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everybody's favorite ginger witch is coming... ;)
> 
> Does the 'twist' with the young boys' case seem plausible? (For Supernatural, that is). I thought it would be sort of fun to play with magic. ;) Also, I thought it'd be in-character for a subtle 'slow-burn' if you will for S1 Dean to slowly come around to the fact that Castiel is truly an angel (hence his astounded look at the light coming from Cas' hand).
> 
> Please sound off in the reviews and let me know what you guys think... what do you like? Until next time, everybody.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okey-dokey... I'm very relieved and pleased to see that the majority of you guys seem to like this story. It's time for our favorite ginger witch to make an appearance. I do have a little bit of a cliffhanger at the end of this one. What can I say? I love writing cliffhangers, always have. But it's a cliffie that I'm sure some of you brilliant/clever readers might have figured out. ;)
> 
> Only two more chapters after this one. Enough with my rambling. Here is chapter 8!

“Well… this is new,” Rowena commented as she placed her bag down.

After a wordless conversation between Dean and Castiel as Dean was on the phone with Rowena, it was decided that if they wanted to send the younger Winchesters back to their proper time, there would be no way around for the witch to meet them in person. Castiel and Young Sam headed off to gather all the records on their Ghost Witch they could find while both Deans found a motel room to act as their home base – the same one Claire found them in to be exact.

Now said Scottish Witch had just arrived in their motel room to be greeted with the sight of two Dean Winchesters, a young Sam Winchester, and a trench-coated angel.

“Thank you for coming, Rowena,” Castiel greeted her.

“It seems I’ve not really had much choice lately with you boys,” Rowena replied, “You should really stop messing around with magic you don’t understand.”

“To be fair, we didn’t know we were messing around with any magic,” Young Dean piped up.

“Two Dean Winchesters... You must be in Heaven, Castiel,” Rowena smirked as she entered the room further to place down what could only be a giant spell book next to all the information they had gathered on Colette Covens.

“Why would I be in…?” Cas started before Dean cut him off.

“You gonna help, Rowena? Or just make comments?”

“I don’t see why I can’t do both, dear,” Rowena grinned.

“Dean and I burned some bones of, it seems a witch, and Castiel seems to think that it caused us to time travel to the future,” Young Sam thought it best to get to the point.

“Well, that’s one explanation for your youthful appearance, Samuel,” Rowena rested both her hands on each side of her now open book.

“Since Dean was ever so vague on the phone, do we have a name for this alleged witch?”

“Colette Covens,” Young Dean told her.

“Colette… Covens,” Rowena’s eyes turned to Young Dean. The speed of which her expression went from mild interest in the conversation to bitterness could’ve given everyone in the room whiplash.

“I take it you’ve heard of her,” Castiel said.

“You could say that,” Rowena turned to him, “She was the daughter of _former_ High Priestess of the Grand Coven – Olivette. To be perfectly frank, I think torching her bones was too good for that bloodline.”

“Wow, no love lost there,” Young Dean commented.

“How would torching her bones cause time travel?” Young Sam stepped closer to Rowena on the other side of the table.

“It wouldn’t,” Rowena said, “But a defense spell on her remains would.”

“So you know the reverse spell?” Dean asked.

“I’d have to look a bit through my books to try and gauge exactly what spell she used, but a counter spell shouldn’t be _too_ difficult to find,” Rowena replied, “Now, how long after the burning did you find yourselves in the future?”

“Uhh,” Young Sam looked to his brother, “I don’t know… maybe…”

“Maybe half an hour,” Young Dean shrugged, “If burning the witch’s bones activated this defense mechanism thing, then why weren’t we transported right away?”

“Magic can be very specific,” Rowena answered, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see if I can find this spell to send you back.”

“If it’s a reversal, does that mean that this witch will go back to being a spirit?” Young Sam asked.

“No idea,” Rowena shook her head.

“One problem at a time,” Dean said and started to usher everyone out of the room, “Let’s give Rowena some space.”

“I’ll call you when I’ve got it,” Rowena took a seat.

“That was productive,” Young Dean commented as everybody left the room and headed to the Impala.

“So is that what it’s like working with a witch?”

“With Rowena… she’s the only witch we work with,” Dean replied, “One thing you’ll learn is that when it comes to getting the job done, sometimes you have to work with necessary evils.”

“Eh, well, a witch is definitely a lesser of a lot of evils,” Young Dean walked side-by-side with his future self, “At least we’re not working with a demon.”

Dean traded a look with Castiel at that one. Probably best to not mention Crowley.

“What do we do now?” Young Sam asked.

“The witch has it handled for now,” Young Dean nodded his head back to the motel room, “I say we grab a bite to eat.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dean agreed.

“Shocker,” Young Sam muttered as he got into the backseat of the Impala with his brother. His future older brother got in the driver’s seat while Castiel rode shotgun once again.

“I’ll call Jack and Sam and update them on the case,” Castiel got out his phone.

“Wow… an angel on a cell phone,” Young Dean quipped from the back seat as the phone rang, “It’s kinda like watching a Hell’s Angel ride a moped.”

“You finally convinced he’s an angel, then?” Young Sam turned to his brother.

“The whole light coming out of his hand thing was pretty convincing,” Young Dean said, “I have to admit, he does seem a little powered down for what should be a powerful supernatural being.”

“He’s been through a lot,” Dean came to the defense of his best friend once again who was now talking to who he assumed was Sam to update him on their situation. Castiel gave him a small smile.

“While Rowena’s running down the reverse spell, is there anything else about your case that might be helpful? Maybe something else along with the defense time travel spell that we could use?” Dean looked to Young Sam in the rearview mirror.

“Nothing that I can think of, but to be honest, I wasn’t really looking for anything,” Young Sam shook his head with an apologetic look, “It was an open and shut case.”

“Clearly our cases get more complicated in the future,” Young Dean said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Cas hung up.

After a few more minutes, the quartet found themselves pulling up to a roadside diner and found a booth in the corner. They got a few double takes from a few waitresses at the likeness of both Deans, but no comments were made.

“Heyyy… looks like they got a ‘Pig ‘N a Poke’ – no idea what that is but it sounds good,” Young Dean pointed up to the specials on the menu.

“Uhh, no, I think I’d avoid that one,” Dean shook his head. Young Dean furrowed his brow at that but looked to see what else looked good to eat.

~*~

“So Rowena’s looking into a reversal spell now?” Jack asked as Sam hung up with Castiel. They were both sitting at one of the tables in their library with quite a few books open.

“Sounds like it,” Sam replied.

“I guess that means that your past selves are going to go back to their own time soon, then,” Jack commented. Sam just nodded.

“Does that mean we can finally put these books away?” Jack asked.

Sam let out a small laugh and nodded.

~*~

“What prompted you to come investigate this case, anyway?” Dean wiped a napkin over his mouth to wipe some ketchup off his upper lip.

“News article,” Young Sam replied as he stabbed some lettuce from his salad.

“Right, she was slashing local men’s chests with her initials, you said,” Dean nodded, “Did she kill them or just engrave her initials?”

“Both,” Young Dean answered.

“Kind of a strange MO for a witch… and a ghost witch at that,” Dean said.

“She was probably wronged by some guy and thought it best to slice any jerk who wronged their partners with her initials so they’d never do it again,” Young Sam shrugged.

“Perhaps,” Castiel agreed.

“You not hungry, Choir Boy?” Young Dean nodded to the untouched food in front of Castiel.

“Angels don’t need to eat,” Cas explained.

“Then why’d you order anything?” Young Dean asked out the side of his mouth, some burger peeking out.

“More for me.”

“More for Dean.”

Dean and Castiel replied in unison as Dean picked a fry off of Cas’ plate. Young Dean made a noncommittal noise and reached over the table to grab a few more fries. Young Sam just shook his head. The brief silence at the table was broken by Dean’s phone ringing.

“Hey, Rowena,” Dean answered mid-chew, “What do you got?”

~*~

“Are you certain this is going to work?” Castiel asked from his seat on the edge of the motel bed. Dean sat next to him. After Rowena’s call stating she had found the reversal spell to get Young Dean and Sam back to their year, the men finished their food as quickly as possible before making their way back to the motel room. Young Dean and Young Sam were on either side of Rowena in front of a table with the quintessential bowl to house the ingredients for her spell.

“You question my magical expertise, Castiel?” Rowena raised a brow to the angel. Castiel wisely stayed quiet.

“Now, you two,” Rowena looked up to the young Winchesters, “Place your hands on either side of the bowl.”

Rowena sprinkled another ingredient into the bowl and started to chant. Wind picked up in the room as the lights flickered, a blue-white light emanated from the bowl. Young Sam and Dean visibly gulped and looked to each other apprehensively.

“Tempus ante mortem secundam e converse! Remittite proprius vicis! Tempus ante mortem secundam e converse! Remittite proprius vicis!” Rowena chanted, getting louder and louder each time. In a flash, the young Winchesters blinked out of the room as the wind died down and the lights flicked back to normal. Rowena let out a long sigh as she gently lowered her arms.

“There now… all done,” Rowena sighed and turned to an empty bed.

“Bollocks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't resist the infamous "Bollocks." ;) I'm sure some of you saw that coming, right? By the way, the Ghost Witch, the daughter of Olivette is just some character I made up (as far as I know). ;) After I decided magic to be a factor and I wanted to involve Rowena, I thought it'd be fun to include Olivette/the Grand Coven, etc to tie to canon.
> 
> I do hope that the flow of the story continues to flow naturally and doesn't seem stilted or anything. It seems like my very first attempt at a SPN story seems to be going over well and for that I'm grateful.
> 
> Can't wait for "The Trap" on Thursday at 8pm... especially Dean's prayer. Let me know what you all thought of this chapter and the whole of the story so far! Until next time...


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Been "wasting" my day away not doing much... thought it'd be smart to post the next chapter. ;) This chapter isn't very long. After this, there's only one more chapter. By the way, while I think it's obvious, when the chapter opens without the word "Young" there - it is Season 1 Dean and Sam speaking... since they went back to 2006, I thought it was obvious, but I just wanted to make a note of it here in case it wasn't. ;)
> 
> Let me know what you guys think! Now, here is chapter 9!

“Whoa,” Sam sat up quickly. Dean popped up next to him in the same manner. They were sitting in the grass next to Colette Coven’s half disturbed grave. Rowena sent them back just before they burned the witch ghost’s bones.

“You okay, Sammy?” Dean looked over his brother for anything out of place.

“Yeah,” Sam breathed, “You?”

“I’m in one piece, so I’d say that’s a plus,” Dean replied.

“Did that really happen?”

“I think so,” Sam maneuvered himself to stand up and helped his older brother do the same.

“Wait a second…” Dean brushed excess dirt off his leather jacket, “We still remember.”

“Maybe whatever gets us to forget hasn’t happened yet,” Sam shrugged.

“Well that’s just great,” Dean complained, “Now we’re gonna have to worry about everything we do and wonder if that’s gonna be the thing that makes us forget our time travel adventure.”

“Or future us could’ve been lying?” Sam tried, “We do tend to do that.”

“Mm,” Dean agreed.

“What do you think we should do with Colette’s bones?” Sam gestured to the half-dug grave.

“I say we leave well enough alone,” Dean said, “I don’t think we should risk us getting jolted back to the future again from her stupid defense mechanism spell thing.”

“But if we don’t salt and burn her bones, she’ll keep slashing guys’ chests,” Sam countered.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean groused. He picked up a shovel and started digging once again.

~*~

“No strange lights this time,” Dean said as they drove back to their motel room. Baby was in the same spot outside of the cemetery’s entrance as she was before their time travel escapade.

“That’s a good sign,” Sam agreed, “Maybe that whole spell thing was a one-time deal. She probably wasn’t expecting some other witch to reverse the spell anyway rendering her spell useless.”

“True,” Dean agreed, “I tell you one thing, when we get back to the room, I feel like I’ll be able to sleep a week… I’m exhausted.”

The rest of the drive back to the motel room was an uneventful one. Dean tried the lock to their room and it worked. He shot a triumphant grin his brother’s way before they both headed inside.

“Looks like everything’s coming up Winchester, Sammy,” Dean commented as they switched on the lights.

“Yeah… not so much.”

Sam and Dean’s smiles dropped off their faces when they were greeted with Future Dean and Castiel standing in the middle of their room with annoyed looks on their faces.

~*~

“What are you two doing here?” Sam asked, “Or… are we not back in our year?”

“We’re in 2006,” Castiel assured him, “It seems Rowena’s spell worked _too_ well.”

“We thought it might be a good idea to wait and see if you two actually were sent back to your time or if it was just us,” Dean took a seat on one of the beds, “Honestly, I was about ready to head out on a search and rescue. You took your time.”

“Didn’t know we had anybody waiting up on us,” Young Dean returned before jumping in the other bed while crossing his feet. He bounced in his spot before making himself more comfortable and laying back.

“What are you doing?” Castiel asked.

“Going to sleep,” Young Dean replied with his eyes closed, “I’m exhausted. Sammy and I have been up for almost 36 hours straight… give or take thirteen years.”

“Right,” Dean shook his head amusedly at his younger self, “Come on, Cas.”

Castiel started to follow his Dean to the door before Sam stopped them.

“Where are you two going?”

“The cemetery,” Cas replied and Dean finished, “Gonna salt and burn those bones and send our fine asses back to the future.”

“That’s not going to work,” Sam warned Dean as Dean’s fingers curled around the doorknob.

“Why not?” Dean didn’t even turn around.

“Because we already salted and burned the witch ghost’s bones and you guys are still here,” Young Dean said into his pillow but still loud enough for the intended ears to hear.

“Perfect,” Dean dropped his hand from the doorknob. He turned to his best friend, sarcasm evident in his tone, “You still think it was a _good idea_ to wait, Cas?”

“Dean…” Cas started.

“I don’t think it would’ve worked anyway,” Sam interjected as he took a seat on the second bed and started to take his boots off.

“Dean and I figured that the spell Colette used on her remains would only work once and with Rowena’s reversal spell – it kinda rendered it useless.”

“What do we do now?” Dean slapped his hands to his thighs.

“Shut up and let me sleep,” Young Dean’s voice was muffled into his pillow.

“We really should get some sleep… you guys too,” Sam agreed with his Dean, “We can all tackle this with fresh eyes in the morning.”

“I’ll watch over you guys,” Castiel said and took a seat at one of the tables.

“Angels don’t sleep?” Sam cocked his head. Cas shook his head.

“That’s creepy,” Young Dean commented even though he didn’t see the response with his eyes still closed and his face in his pillow.

“I miss my room,” Dean sighed.

~*~

Sunbeams slowly filtered its way into the motel room. Young Dean slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head from his pillow. He wiped a small pool of drool from his mouth before sitting up and jerked back when he noticed Cas sitting in his eye line at the table.

“Still here, I see,” Young Dean yawned.

“Yes,” Cas replied.

“Where’s future me?” Young Dean asked after he saw his younger brother slowly awakening in the other bed.

“Down here,” Dean’s voice came from in between both beds.

“You slept on the floor?” Sam looked down at him.

“I’ve slept in worse places,” Dean countered before slowly getting up and cracking his back, “Though, I have to admit… I was a lot younger.”

Young Dean winced at the popping of his future self’s joints.

“So… do we have a plan?” Dean made his way over to Cas at the table and took the offered coffee. It seemed Castiel didn’t spend the entire time sitting in the same spot. He had already made a coffee run.

“I came up with a few ideas,” Castiel replied, “But then I shot them all down when I realized that all of my ideas would require resources that are not currently at our disposal.”

“Okay,” Dean took a seat across from Cas.

“I was thinking… maybe Bobby Singer could help us,” Sam said, “We’re not far from his salvage yard.”

“Bobby?” Dean whispered. His heart longed to see his late surrogate father.

“Or Dad,” Young Dean remarked, “We’d be killing two birds with one stone… we find Dad and he could help with our time travel situation. Hell, it might be a good thing with you guys here… I’m sure you remember where you found Dad last time, right?”

“More or less,” Dean shrugged.

“You… don’t remember?” Sam asked, “Or you don’t want to tell us? Spoilers and all that?”

“Screw spoilers, man! We’re in _our_ time now,” Young Dean said, “And it ain’t a sneak preview if it’s already happened.”

“Dean,” Cas got up, “Messing with time… it’s dangerous.”

“Exactly what part of 2006 are we in, anyway?” Dean set his coffee cup back down on the table after taking another sip.

“January,” Sam replied.

“No, I mean what was your last case?” Dean asked. At Sam and Young Dean’s shared look, Dean was quick to elaborate, “I don’t mean Colette Coven’s case… the one before that.”

“Reaper,” Sam replied, “Dean got really badly hurt… electrocuted actually when we were fighting a Rawhead. I found a faith healer that turned out to be a Reaper on a leash being controlled by his wife.”

“Yeah, hard to forget that one,” Dean replied.

“Almost dying… yeah, hard to forget,” Young Dean got out of the bed, “So you going to tell us where Dad is or what?”

“I have no idea,” Dean shrugged.

“You have no idea?” Young Dean wasn’t buying it.

“When we found him, he didn’t exactly give us a play by play of his locations for each month we were searching for him,” Dean countered.

Young Dean looked like he wanted to retort but just sighed.

“Fair point.”

“Soooo… Bobby?” Dean asked. He tried to keep the hopefulness out of his tone, he really did.

“You think he’ll want to help us?” Sam asked, “Especially how the last time we saw him, he threatened to shoot Dad.”

“Bobby will help,” Dean was sure. God, he missed the man. Apocalypse World Bobby was great, but he wasn't _his_ Bobby.

“All right… let’s grab the coffee and check out,” Young Dean grabbed his keys and pointedly looked at his future self, “And this time… _I’m_ driving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys really think that I wouldn't include one of our favorite hunters once the boys were back in 2006? I'm not a total idjit. ;) :P
> 
> I'm supposed to have Thursday 1/16 off and I *think* I'll probably post the remaining chapter of the story that day just in time for the new episode "The Trap." Any theories yet on how Dean and Cas will get back to the future? Let me know what you guys think of the chapter/the story! I really do appreciate them all. :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well... here we are. The concluding chapter to my first ever Supernatural story. I do hope that the way I 'wrap' this up is believable and somewhat clever if I do so say so myself. ;)
> 
> It has been expressed to have a time travel story where the 'changes' actually stay. Who knows... maybe one day if I have enough free time and/or inspiration, I might write one. In the meantime, if you all haven't already, I'd recommend reading "The Road So Far (This Time Around)" by 8_Years_of_Silence on here (and over on ff.net). It is beyond epic and worth every second to read.
> 
> Okey-dokey. I'll stop boring you all with my long-ass author's note. Carry on (my wayward son) - here is chapter 10 and the conclusion of "Been Down This Road Before." :)

“What’d your Daddy get you into now?” Bobby Singer opened the door for Sam and Young Dean.

“Why do you think he got us into something?” Sam asked as he entered Bobby’s house with his brother trailing behind.

“I haven’t seen you boys in awhile,” Bobby replied, “In fact… I thought you were off at college, Sam?”

“I was…” Sam replied, “But Dad’s missing and we’re trying to find him.”

“And you need my help tracking him down?” Bobby asked, “Well, I’m not sure what kinda help I’ll be… your Daddy’s gonna be avoiding me like the plague.”

“That’s not actually the thing we need your help with, Bobby,” Young Dean said and made a subtle gesture to the Impala. Bobby peeked out his blinds to see two men in the backseat but couldn’t make out any features from the distance.

“You got some monsters in the backseat?” Bobby guessed.

“No… actually,” Young Dean sighed, “They’re from the future.”

Bobby scoffed.

“One of them’s me,” Young Dean told him.

“You?”

“Yeah,” Young Dean sighed, sinking his hands in his jean’s pockets.

“You boys yanking my chain?” Bobby wasn’t buying it, “What’s really going on?”

“They’re really from the future, Bobby,” Sam confirmed, “And we need your help figuring out how to get them back to their time.”

“Well, what do you think I can do?” Bobby asked, “I hate to tell you, but I’m fresh out of DeLoreans.”

“We thought maybe one of your lore books might be able to help out,” Young Dean shrugged, “Nobody knows this stuff better than you, Bobby.”

“Flattery is not going to make me magically know how to Marty McFly those two back to the future,” Bobby said.

“Come on, Bobby… please?” Sam gave his trademark puppy-dog eyes, “You’re our only hope.”

Bobby let out a long sigh.

“All right… tell them to come on in and see if they can help me look through all these books.”

“Thank you, Bobby,” Sam smiled, “You’re the best.”

“Yeah yeah,” Bobby grumbled and started further back in the house to search for relevant lore books.

Sam went back outside to beckon Dean and Castiel into the house. The door squeaked shut as Castiel and Dean made their way inside Bobby’s house. Dean took a long look around. It had been a few years since he had been in his house. Man, did it feel good to be in the older hunter’s presence once again.

Bobby let out a long whistle as soon as Dean and Castiel came into his view.

“Boy, you weren’t kidding… there is another you,” Bobby commented.

“Told ya,” Young Dean smirked.

“Bobby,” Dean smiled, “It’s good to see you.”

Castiel came up behind Dean and nodded at the seasoned hunter with a smile.

“And who might you be?” Bobby looked at Cas.

“My name’s Castiel,” Cas replied.

“You a hunter?” Bobby asked.

“Sometimes,” Cas replied instead of his usual ‘No, I’m an angel’ response.

“Good enough for me,” Bobby didn’t ask for any elaboration, “So, how’d you two end up here in the past?”

“Reversal time travel spell gone wrong,” Dean answered as he took a pretty hefty book from Bobby’s arms.

“Reversal?” Bobby asked.

“Yeah… did other me forget to mention?” Dean looked to his other self, “They were in the future and we got them back to their time but Cas and I got sucked back with them.”

“So, why don’t you try that same spell to bring you two back to your time?” Bobby raised an eyebrow.

“We can’t,” Castiel said, “For one, we don’t have all the ingredients and another, the spell was specific to a reversal of a different spell. It wouldn’t do us any good.”

“Hmm,” Bobby sighed, “All right, boys… let’s get to work.”

~*~

“What’s taking them so long?” Jack asked.

“Hmm?” Sam looked up from the book he was reading.

“I said, what’s taking them so long?” Jack repeated himself and started to pace, “Rowena should’ve found the correct spell by now to send younger you and Dean back to 2006… so what are Cas and Dean doing taking so long?”

“Maybe Dean stopped to get some food,” Sam replied half-heartedly. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was getting worried too.

Sam’s phone buzzed on the table.

“Speaking of…” Sam grabbed his phone, “Hey, Rowena…”

Sam stood up in shock.

“What?”

~*~

“You’re staring at me,” Bobby didn’t look away from his research. Dean and Castiel quickly averted their gaze.

“ _Why_ are you staring at me?” Bobby decided to give them eye contact as he closed another book that was getting them nowhere.

Dean opened his mouth to answer, but Castiel beat him to the punch.

“You just look younger than we’re used to, is all,” Castiel said. It wasn’t a lie. Dean closed his mouth and just nodded in agreement.

“Well, I’m getting major eye strain from all this reading,” Bobby pinched the bridge of his nose as he squinted his eyes, “I’m gonna grab some beers. You want any?”

“Yeah, thanks, Bobby,” Dean nodded.

“Let me guess… Angels don’t drink either,” Young Dean asked as Bobby left the room.

Cas shook his head, “Not usually, no.”

“So how come you haven’t been able to do anything about this whole time travel thing, anyway?” Young Dean asked, “I didn’t bother to ask before back in the future, but I’m curious… Halos can’t time travel?”

“I used to be able to,” Castiel replied.

“What happened?” Sam was genuinely interested.

“Were you a naughty angel?” Young Dean jibed.

“Shit happened,” Dean answered for him, “Lay off him, man.”

“Hey,” Sam perked up, “If you used to be able to time travel… do you think it’d be possible to find past you and have him help us?”

“Not possible,” Cas shook his head as Bobby came back into the room and passed out the beers, “I wasn’t on Earth in this time and I highly doubt that past me would even want to help.”

“You weren’t on _Earth_?” Bobby asked as he handed the angel a beer anyway.

“What the hell did I miss?”

~*~

“What do you mean they disappeared too, Rowena?” Sam’s grip on the phone was tight – any tighter and he’d have to get a new one.

_“The spell went perfectly, Samuel,” Rowena replied, “Your brother and his angel must’ve got caught in the crossfire or updraft or something.”_

“Get them back then,” Sam bit back.

_“I can’t,” Rowena sounded genuinely sorry, “It’s not that kind of spell.”_

“Sam, what’s going on?” Jack couldn’t hear the conversation.

“Rowena accidentally sent our Dean and Cas back in time too,” Sam pulled the speaker from his mouth for a moment to explain.

“What _can_ you do then, Rowena?” Sam was trying to keep calm.

_“I can try to see if I can find another spell to retrieve them… but…” Rowena was at a loss, “I doubt they’re still in the motel room back in the past and without knowing their exact location back in time, I won’t be able to get them back with my kind of magic.”_

Sam let out a sigh.

“Great.”

_“I’m sorry, Samuel…” Rowena meant it._

With that, both parties hung up and Sam tossed his phone back on the table and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

“How are we going to get them back?” Jack asked the obvious question.

“I have no clue,” Sam shook his head and let out one longer, discouraged breath.

~*~

“Angels are real?” Bobby was now the one staring.

“Yeah, I didn’t believe it either, Bobby,” Young Dean shook his head, “They’re a hell of a lot different than I thought though.”

“They all look like you?” Bobby asked.

“I don’t look like me,” Cas replied.

“Okay, we’re getting off track here,” Dean wanted everybody to get back on track. He had no idea how his past self, his younger brother or Bobby would take to the whole Jimmy Novak thing.

But it seemed he wasn’t that lucky.

“What do you mean you don’t look like you?” Young Dean’s interest was piqued.

“I, uh,” Cas stuttered and looked to his Dean who just shrugged in response with a look that said ‘You brought this on yourself.’

“Well, I’m… actually a lot bigger than this,” Cas gestured to his body with a flap of his trench coat, “My actual size is approximately the size of your _Chrysler Building_.”

Young Dean choked on the sip of beer he was taking.

“Well, thank you for shrinking down to a more convenient size for my house,” Bobby remarked and dropped it (thankfully).

“These books are incredible, Bobby,” Sam continued to keep the subject off of Castiel. Dean was grateful.

“Yes, and as incredible as they are… there’s nothing in them to help you boys with your current situation,” Bobby sighed.

“Do you think that maybe that that Rowena might be able to help you guys in this time?” Young Dean tried.

“Extremely doubtful,” Castiel shook his head.

“Yeah… it took a few years and certain circumstances for her to even work with us instead of against us in the first place,” Dean agreed.

A knock came from the front door.

“Excuse me, boys,” Bobby got up, “That should be one of my customers… still got a salvage yard to run, you know.”

Bobby opened the door to be greeted with his customer.

“Hey, sorry about the delay,” Bobby apologized, “I have some unexpected company… but your car should be ready to go soon. If you don’t mind waiting?”

“No, that’s fine,” he replied, “I’ve got plenty of time.”

“Boys,” Bobby came back into the living room, “Put the lore books away for a bit… got a civilian coming in for a minute while I finish his car.”

“How are we going to explain-” Young Dean gestured to himself and his future self.

“You’re brothers,” Bobby shrugged, “Don’t bring it up… you know people, they tend to ignore things.”

Bobby disappeared from view again and the boys all heard him tell his customer to come “hang out for a bit” with his friends while he finished working on his car. The man came into the room and gave a polite wave at Sam and Young Dean. They gave a polite nod back at him. He looked to Castiel and Dean and smiled.

Dean and Cas stared in shock at Bobby’s client.

It was Chuck.

“Hi,” Chuck smiled and took a seat next to Sam on the couch.

“So… what kinda ride you got?” Young Dean asked in attempt to make conversation.

“Oh, nothing exciting,” Chuck shook his head. Dean slowly made his way to stand in front of Chuck with Castiel by his side.

“What are you doing here?” Dean wasn’t pulling any punches.

“What?” Chuck looked up at him.

“You heard him… what are you doing here?” Castiel repeated. Sam and Young Dean gave the time travelers strange looks. After a moment, their expressions didn’t change.

“Man… you’re ruining my scene,” Chuck complained and stood up. Dean took a step back as the deity walked around the couch. Cas looked to the other Dean and Sam. They were frozen in space.

“What. Are. You. Doing. Here, Chuck?” Dean was having none of it today.

“I _was_ trying to get back into my Chuck character,” Chuck replied, “But you two ruined that.”

Chuck took a sniff of a half-eaten sandwich on Bobby’s desk.

“Can you get us back to our time?” Castiel got straight to the point.

“Of course I can, Castiel,” Chuck dropped the sandwich back on the desk, “I am God.”

“Well, why don’t you make with the snappy-snap and get us back?” Dean was getting impatient.

“Give me a minute,” Chuck said, “I want to take in the visual of what you guys did and keep it in my head.”

“What?” Dean wasn’t following.

“I mean I know I’ve had you guys time travel before but this one really was a new one on me… even I didn’t see this one coming. And then the extra twist of you two ending back where the whole journey started?” Chuck made a ‘mind-blown’ gesture.

“What are you talking about?” Dean would never get used to his ramblings. And since when was he back on Earth?

“Nothing,” Chuck sighed, “This was a fun detour… but I think it’d be best if things got back on track, don’t you?”

Before Castiel or Dean could respond, Chuck Shurley snapped his fingers and everyone in the room disappeared. Chuck sighed and snapped his fingers again before he disappeared.

~*~

2006

“Nothing like a straightforward salt and burn… especially after last week,” Sam climbed into the passenger seat as his brother situated himself in the driver’s seat. They had just had a straightforward case after the whole Reaper/Faith Healer thing the week before.

“I think we were due for an easy one after Roy Le Grange,” Dean started the engine and stopped for a second, his hands resting on the steering wheel while the engine idled.

“You okay?” Sam asked.

“Yeah…” Dean nodded, “I just got the strangest déjà vu.”

~*~

2019

“Pass the syrup,” Dean made grabby hands at his best friend with his mouth full of bacon.

“Dean, you shouldn’t talk with your mouth full,” Castiel chastised as he passed the syrup.

“How long have you known me?” Dean smirked, his mouth still full as he poured his syrup over his stack of pancakes.

“Eleven years, six months, ten days, five hours and forty seven minutes,” Castiel replied.

“Yeah,” Dean blinked at the detailed answer, “Well, you should know by now I talk with my mouth full.”

“You mean you’re not supposed to speak while you’re eating?” Jack asked as he put his full spoon back down into his cereal bowl.

“Jack, it’s not the best idea to model your etiquette after Dean,” Sam smirked as he got up to clear his plate of egg whites.

“Huh,” Dean’s mouth was still full, but this time of pancakes.

“What?” Sam asked as he came back over to the table with a second cup of coffee.

“I just got the strangest déjà vu,” Dean said and with a brief shake of his head; he left it at that.

~*~

“There we go…” Chuck leaned back in his reclining chair from his laptop in his lap with a satisfied sigh. He smiled and looked up, straight forward.

“Now let’s get back to the show.”

THE END

?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all I wrote… my first foray into the SPN fan fiction. Hope you guys enjoyed. After a few bouts of dry spells, I finally managed to finish it and I hope it didn't end too abruptly and it had a good flow… I feel like it was a good flow and everybody was fairly in-character. I thought it was sort of clever to tie-in with the show's canon for how everything gets 'wrapped up.'
> 
> Let me know what you think! Love our boys. :)
> 
> Absolutely cannot wait until "The Trap" tonight... so eager to see Dean's prayer... "Peace out, bitches." ;) :)

**Author's Note:**

> Welp... there's the first chapter! Let me know what you guys think! By the way, the scene that wouldn't leave me alone that sprouted this entire story was Claire running into S1 Dean and Sam. :P
> 
> Until next time...


End file.
